Governor halts plan to charge Manhattan drivers big tolls to pay for transit and fight traffic
NEW YORK — New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Wednesday indefinitely postponed the implementation of a plan to charge high tolls to motorists to enter the core of Manhattan, just weeks before the first US coup. “congestion pricing” system was set to start.
The announcement was a stunning blow to a program years in the making designed to raise billions of dollars for New York’s beleaguered subways and commuter rails while reducing traffic congestion and air pollution on the city’s streets .
Hochul, a Democrat, delivered the news in a pre-recorded video statement, saying she had come to the “difficult decision that implementing the planned congestion pricing system at this time poses too many unintended consequences.”
She cited the city’s fragile economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the financial burden the fee would impose on New Yorkers struggling with inflation, as reasons not to pursue the program.
“A $15 levy may not seem like much to someone with the means, but it could destroy the budget of a hard-working or middle-class household,” Hochul said. “It puts pressure on the very people who keep this city running.”
Hochul had previously been an outspoken supporter, praising the program as recently as two weeks ago and dismissing the “backlash from drivers who had set their habits” that worked to delay implementation.
Her change of heart was widely deplored by transit advocates as a betrayal of a major state environmental initiative that was expected to provide an annual cash injection of about $1 billion to subway and bus systems that serve a number of 4 million riders daily.
Kate Slevin, executive vice president of the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit advocacy group, said the move would “harm millions of transit riders who depend on improvements and hinder the economic success of our broader region.”
The plan called for people driving passenger cars into Manhattan below 60th Street – roughly the area south of Central Park – to pay at least $15, while larger vehicles would have to pay more. These payments would be in addition to the already high tolls for using bridges and tunnels to enter Manhattan.
The MTA had already invested tens of millions of dollars in installing cameras, sensors, license plate readers and other equipment on city roads in anticipation of the plan’s launch.
But as the start date approached, the compensation sparked a growing backlash – and multiple lawsuits — from suburban drivers and some local officials who expressed concerns about the impact on commuters. Former President Donald Trump called it a “disaster.”
Members of the MTA board, which oversees the transportation agency, said they had not been informed of Hochul’s plan.
“I’m in shock,” said board member Andrew Albert. ‘We won’t get new buses, new metros, new signals. It is a betrayal of the millions and millions of people who this would have helped.”